Poll: 28% support tea party

More than a quarter of Americans count themselves as supporters of the tea party movement, according to a new Gallup Poll out Monday.

The survey of 1,033 adults polled nationwide shows that 28 percent said they are a “supporter” of the movement, while 26 percent said they are an “opponent” of tea party activists. Thirty-eight percent said they neither back nor oppose the movement and 8 percent had no opinion.

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Not surprisingly, tea party supporters skew conservative, but the poll showed that nearly the same percentage of independents count themselves supporters of the movement as self-identified Republicans.

Forty-three percent of the independents surveyed said they support the tea party, while 49 percent of Republicans said the same. Only 8 percent of self-identified Democrats back the tea parties.

Fifty-five percent of those who said they support the tea parties make more than $55,000, compared with roughly 50 percent of Americans who are above that income level.

Additionally, the vast majority of the grassroots activists are either employed or retired — with 6 percent saying that they are “unemployed.”

The poll was conducted March 26-28 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.